A timber castle at a children’s charity playground was demolished today after it was gutted in a suspected arson attack.

The structure, which was burned out in the early hours of yesterday, was pulled down by a digger at The Venture on Garner Road, Caia Park, Wrexham .

Neighbours spoke of their sadness and anger that yobs had targeted the popular facility, destroying the wooden castle which had been built over years by children with help from adults.

At about 10.30am this morning, the digger, which was offered by Dan Evans of Groundworks for free, starting crunching into the badly burned, unsafe structure, pulling down turrets and clearing the deckways.

Rob Hill, deputy playground manager at The Venture, said: “We are having to take down one of our more popular playground castle which was destroyed in a fire last night.

“As a result of that, we are going to have to try and rebuild something.

“People keep asking me what is the cost of rebuilding, but I can tell, it is going to be expensive, but it is not about the money its about the children, who have spent years building these structures with us and what they get out of it.”

The fire-damaged castle at The Venture in Caia Park, Wrexham, it torn down after it was set alight in a suspected arson attack (Image: Steve Bagnall)

The Venture was launched in the 1970s and over time structures were built and changed, one of which became the popular large castle.

Maval Mahmood, who lives across the road with his family, said there had been problems in the area with youths over the last couple of months.

He said: “I was sleeping in the back room and did not see the fire. I found out when I took my son to school and my neighbour told me about it.

“It is a real shame and hopefully they will catch the people that have done this.

“I have lived here for two and a half years and over the last two to three months there has been problems. Myself and my neighbours cars have been damaged on a number of occasions.

“You can see young kids gathering at 1am and 2am in the morning making a noise and smoking cannabis.”

The fire-damaged castle at The Venture in Caia Park, Wrexham (Image: Hadyn Iball)

Another neighbour, Robert Slawson, added: “It ridiculous, The Venture has been there for 30 years or more and whoever has done this should be ashamed of themselves.

“All my children have been there and now my grandchildren are going there and it has been shut because of their actions.